Disclaimer: Zootopia and all related characters are owned by Disney. All other characters, product names, trademarks, and copyrights, belong to their respective owners.

…..

Checking the address Clawhauser had given him, again, Pawson looked up at the Grand Pangolin Arms and shook his head, 'What the hell, Hopps, this place is a dump.'

Wanting to avoid prying eyes, and ears, he'd put off going through Judy's old apartment until midday in the hopes that either everyone would be at work, or asleep taking a nap. Grabbing his phone and making sure the holster above his tail was hidden under his shirt, Connor crossed the street.

Bogo had filled him in on Judy's housing situation, 'Damn that speciest ewe setting up Hopps like that,' and given him a copy of Clawhauser's unofficial notes describing everything Jackson had found before summarily being recalled to Precinct One by the pissed off cheetah.

'No call box, no door locks, and the lobby doesn't look like it's been swept in months. Seriously Hopps, what the hell were you thinking living here?'

Sighing, Connor walked toward the landlord's door thinking, 'Maybe this was the best she could do.' He knew that some species were profiled pretty heavily by landlords, foxes for sure, skunks a little, but he never figured rabbits…

"Holy crap, that's not right," Connor whispered to himself.

Tacked on a bulletin board next to the landlord's door was a poster with two rabbits surrounded by a horde of rabbit kits and in large print, 'Could it be time to get yourself – FIXED?'

Staring at the poster, he was tempted to tear it down. He and Olivia had had their share of problems with landlords that wouldn't rent to them because they were an interspecies couple. But at least in his and Olivia's case, none of those bigots were ever quite as blunt with their opinions as this POS.

Smiling to himself, Connor remembered when he and Olivia almost lost out on their current apartment. Olivia had done all the legwork, finding and touring the perfect place. She'd submitted their applications, gotten them approved, and was going over the lease with the landlord when suddenly everything stopped.

Connor Pawson, tardy ZPD Officer, Olivia's boyfriend, and most definitely not a feline, showed up to sign the lease.

The speciest old bear pulled back the lease, told them someone else had given him a hold deposit and to come back never, the place was already taken. When Olivia burst out in tears, Connor had tried to console her. They'd been through a dozen places with no success, and Olivia couldn't take it anymore. Pulling out her phone, she looked at her mate, waited until Connor nodded, and then called her dad.

A few minutes of sobbing into her phone later, the landlord's cell phone rang. Holding Olivia tight, he'd watched the old bear on the phone. It was one of the most unusual things he'd ever seen. The bear never said anything past 'Hello,' and two minutes later, the hold deposit was forgotten, and the landlord was handing Olivia a signed lease and a set of keys.

Connor lightly rapped a knuckle on the landlord's door.

He wasn't looking forward to talking with this guy, but he needed to check out Judy's old room. He just hoped the guy didn't ask to see a warrant. Generating any official paperwork, like a warrant, might tip off whoever had hired the Mule, which in turn would piss off a certain cape buffalo.

No answer.

Clawhauser's notes said that the landlord had been reported missing, and after Jackson's visit, no one had been sent back out to follow up.

'I wonder…'

The door was unlocked.

Connor slipped into the room and was immediately hit with the smell of spoiled food. On the table was a small plate with two browned apple cores. And then, following a slightly rancid odor, Connor found a pan with a few sliced bamboo shoots still in the bottom on the stove and a plate of spoiled bug paste and crackers on the counter.

Given the degree of spoilage, it was pretty clear that Judy's former landlord was either a complete slob or hadn't been here since Jackson was looking for him on Sunday and needed to be added to the growing list of missing-mammals.

-/-/-

"Okay, that makes six barbeque chickpea and six spicy black bean lettuce wraps," said Nick handing the wrap he'd just finished making to Sunni. That should be enough for the eight of us, don't you think?"

"Should be, as long as Judy doesn't eat too much," replied Sunni as she rolled the wrap in a thin foil sheet and handed it to Susan, who in turn loaded it into the picnic basket.

Bonnie slid up next to Nick with another tray of ingredients and said, "Buffalo Cauliflower, one of Judy's favorites."

Nick nodded as he reached for some more large lettuce leaves, "Good idea, I'll make a half dozen just in case."

Bonnie patted Nick on the back in approval and then went to the pantry for some juice pouches.

"Hi, guys. Almost ready?"

Nick and Sunni both looked over at the new voice.

"Who invited her?" whispered Nick into Sunni's ear.

Sunni shrugged and whispered back, "Judy. She needed help getting her swimsuit on and asked if it was okay for Janae to go too."

Nick stealthily looked over at the two does. Janae was wearing a red one-piece swimsuit and a light blue wrap, while Judy was wearing a pink bikini under the same Bunnyburrow Sheriff's Office t-shirt that he'd given her yesterday.

The fox approved of Janae's handiwork dressing Judy.

The fox was also not as stealthy as he'd hoped.

Whispering out of the side of his mouth, Nick winked at Judy and said, "Oh, I guess that's okay then."

Both girls rolled their eyes.

Nick smirked as he handed another wrap to Sunni.

Five wraps and two more eye rolls later, a knock came from the front door. Before anyone could move, the door opened, followed by a buck's voice calling out, "Hello."

Nick groaned, "Dalton's going too?"

Sunni elbowed Nick, "Shush, Janae likes him. Besides Judy can't walk that far, so he's driving."

"Ewww," said Nick looking at Janae. "No kissy-face allowed."

Janae raised a brow.

"Fine, three more wraps coming up."

-/-/-

All quiet so far, he hadn't seen anyone on his way up to Judy's old apartment.

Connor hadn't spent much more time in the landlord's room, the guy definitely hadn't been around for a while. If the spoiled food weren't proof enough, the tenant notes from a few days ago he'd found pretty much sealed the deal.

Now comes the hard part, or if Wilde were here watching, the embarrassing part, getting the door open. He'd wished he'd found the landlord's master key, but in lieu of that, Connor whipped out a credit card and made ready to dust off his lock picking skills.

Not that he was a delinquent or anything, but some of the guys in school liked to prank each other, and being able to get into someone's locked room was a great benefit when retaliation via maple syrup and lots of feathers was the order of the day.

Slipping the card in the crack of the door, Connor grabbed the knob, and about to slide the card down, turned it, and… the door was unlocked.

"Damn," whispered Connor, more out of relief that Wilde wasn't here to rib him for being an idiot than the fact the room was unlocked.

Quickly moving into the small room and closing the door behind him, Connor took a look around. Or tried to.

"Whoa. What's with all the Musk Mask?"

It wasn't enough to make a normal canid's eyes water or nose run. Still, in the last month, someone had scoured this place clean with industrial-strength Musk Mask, and the antiseptic smell left behind was still strong enough to give someone with a sensitive nose a headache if they breathed it in for too long.

'Well, so much for knowing who's been in here over the last few days. Why the hell did Hopps scour her place clean like that?'

Despite the pending headache, Connor sniffed around anyway. Desk, microwave, mini-fridge, nothing out of the ordinary. He picked up Hopps' scent on everything easy enough, even through the Musk Mask, but not much else until he knelt next to the bed.

'The landlord.'

He picked up a hint of landlord on the bed, and then some on the under-bed drawers.

"Makes sense assuming it was the landlord that cleaned Hopps out of her place," Connor mumbled to himself.

Standing, Connor surveyed the rest of the tiny room until his eyes settled on the wall-mounted shelf and hanger bar.

'The purple dress.'

Connor chuckled. He'd taken the shredded remains out of the evidence bag for a look, and from what he could tell, Wilde's graphic description was right on the money. '…that purple dress… the one that exactly matches the color of your eyes… backless… made of a silky, glisteny material that's going to accentuate your gray fur as it plunges–'

Shaking all thoughts of hormonal foxes and bunnies out of his head, Connor stepped over to where the hanger bar was mounted, kneeled, and started sniffing around again.

That's when it hit his nose, something strong enough to get past the Musk Mask, "Wilde."

Spying a small cloth lump in the corner behind a broom, Connor slid over and grabbed it. Taking a deep sniff, and almost choking on the thick smell of fox – Sniffing again to be sure, Connor shook his head, 'Not just fox musk, but Wilde's faded mark.'

Chuckling now, Connor realized he probably owed Clawhauser a box of doughnuts for being right about those two all along. Based on how old Wilde's scent mark was, the two of them had been in deep with each other for a while now.

Slipping the plushie into an evidence bag, and masking the scent it was putting off, Connor blinked. He was picking up something else now.

'Blood.'

Muzzle low again, he checked around the floor and then along the wooden wainscoting on this side of the brickwork until…

"Yes!"

There it was, a tiny bit of purple fabric stuck on a popped nail. And on that fabric, a drop of blood.

Pulling out his phone, Connor took a few pictures, and then using a pair of tweezers, he freed the fabric, held it up to his nose, and whispered, "The landlord."

Mentally taking Critterly off the 'missing' list and putting him on a different one, Connor bagged the evidence and, figuring he was already on borrowed time, decided it was time to leave.

Reaching out for the doorknob, Connor froze when he heard footsteps in the hallway stop near the door, and a voice ask,

"Is this it?"

-/-/-

"How are you feeling?"

"Good, I've only needed the one pain pill this morning. I should be right as rain tomorrow."

Scooting in close, Nick's tail wormed its way in between the log they were leaning against and Judy's back, and then like an obedient lizard, rested itself next to her leg.

"Don't push yourself too hard, Fluff, even a near-indestructible force of nature like you needs to listen to her doctor now and then and take it easy."

Leaning against her fox, Judy nodded, "I guess."

'It's beautiful out,' thought Judy. A comfortable breeze blew through the trees surrounding most of the small lake, or oversized pond as most water-born mammals would call it, 'It's not a lake if you can see the other side,' she remembered an otter friend of hers from high school saying one day at lunch.

Friend.

Judy grimaced. An acquaintance at best, her dad made sure of that.

Shaking away those old memories, Judy scanned the valley of open space she could see through the opening in the trees to the west and focused on more pleasant memories. Watching sunsets from here when she was a kit, counting stars on a moonless night, and glancing toward Nick, cuddling with her fox while they watched a bad movie.

Judy watched Janae and Dalton happily bounce around in the water with the girls, and then hearing the beginnings of a pretend battle between her brother's sandcastle kingdoms on the shore, she pulled Nick's tail into her lap and started to fidget.

"Thank you."

Feeling Judy pick out a stray bit of grass from his tail and then continue to groom it distractedly, Nick asked, "What for?"

She shouldn't be here, she knew it in her heart. Closing her eyes, Judy wondered if her parents would have buried her next to David by the spring that fed the family lake or just had her cremated and spread the ashes over her favorite field of flowers.

"For having my back. Over two hundred miles away, and when I needed you most, you were there for me. If it hadn't been for you–"

Nick put a finger to Judy's lips to quiet her and said, "We're a team, and no matter what it takes, I'll always be there for you," and then smirking, Nick bopped Judy's nose and said, "besides, if I remember right, you're still ahead of me in the 'save your partner's life' count."

Shrugging, Judy ran her claws through Nick's soft tail and said, "Maybe by two or three."

"Three? Maybe two, but–"

"The fake spider on McHorn's birthday cake, you know he would have rampaged and squished you if he'd seen it."

"That was you?"

"Yup, just looking out for my partner."

"But that means… hey, wait a second, I almost had a heart attack when that thing shot out of my desk drawer and landed on my keyboard."

Judy giggled, "Uh-huh, I've got pictures."

"Fine, three. But you have to delete the pictures."

"Nuh-uh, no deal."

"So," leaning closer to his bunny, "what will it take to disappear those pictures?"

Moving her muzzle closer to Nick's, Judy whispered, "I'm sure we can figure something out."

Muzzle almost to muzzle, heartbeats in sync, lips ready for a passionate meeting…

"Ahem."

Judy jerked her head back.

Nick whisper-whined, "Hi, Sunni."

"We weren't doing anything," added Judy as she defensively pulled Nick's tail closer.

Now tapping her foot, Sunni waved a mom-finger at Judy, "Yes, you were. I saw you petting Mr. Nick's tail. He doesn't allow big kits to pet it, only little ones."

Looking to her lap where the incriminating evidence was wiggling under her paws, now trying to tickle her, Judy sighed and said, "Ohhh, that. Yeah, I uh," Judy tried pushing the tail away just to have it sneak back into her lap, looking like a sad, rejected pet begging for attention.

"Nick…"

Snickering, said accomplice to the crime underway, put his arm around Judy and said, "Sunni, it's okay for Judy to pet my tail, because we're ZPD partners and rule 8-6-0-0-7 slash, uh, B says that partners on the force get to pet each other's tails.

"Right, Carrots."

Finally grabbing hold of the fuzzy appendage that was still trying to tickle her, Judy sighed, "Yeah, Mr. Nick's right, good old regulation 8-6-0-0-7 slash C. "

"B"

"Yeah, that one. So, it's okay."

Sunni's foot-tapping slowed but didn't stop, "Then how come Mr. Nick's not petting your tail?"

"Yeaaaaah, Carrots, Sunni's right. How come?" said Nick as his paw, claws only barely extended, slowly slid down the back fur exposed between the two pieces of Judy's borrowed swimsuit.

"Careful Slick, another inch and–"

"Ahem."

Judy looked up at her sister and then over to the grinning fox and then back at Sunni, whose foot-tapping had just accelerated, and…

Growing up in a large rabbit family meant that she was constantly rubbing tails with a sibling or a cousin, and it also meant that grooming each other was no big deal either. When she was little, Mom used to try and get around to all the kits and help with grooming, a nice fur brushing was also a good time for Mom to hear what was up with her large brood. As she got older, she and Janae would take turns brushing out each other's hard to reach spots in the morning before school or later after she'd cleaned up from one of her workouts.

'So, what's the difference between all of that and letting Nick have a little fun with his joke?'

"Fine, go ahead."

Sitting stoically, a neutral look on her face, Judy felt Nick's claws, momentarily paused, continue their delicate journey that final inch and–

'Okay, there's a difference.'

The claws, it had to be the claws. Nick brushed his sharp claws gently through her sensitive tail fur, bottom to top, and then played with the very tip before cupping the small tuft of fuzz and doing it again.

"Mmmmmhhhh."

Her eyes wanted to roll back in her head, but thanks to years of grueling ZPD training, she was able to keep her reaction to heavy breathing and a barely audible moan. 'I don't remember a tail grooming from Mom that ever felt this good.'

"Soooo fluffy," came a whisper from her evil fox.

'Definitely the claws, so much better than any tail brush could ever be.'

Judy started to melt. She closed her eyes and bit her lips together to keep from–

"Mmmmmmhhh." Judy wanted to squeeze her muzzle closed, but she couldn't move except to slowly, ever so slowly, lean into her amazing, magic-pawed fox.

"What's going on?" asked a new, more mature voice.

"Uhhhmmm."

"It's a partner rule. Judy has to let Mr. Nick pet her tail."

"A partner rule?"

"8-6, Mmmm, something, slash, uhmmm, D," whisper-moaned Judy.

Looking up at Janae, Nick winked, "She meant regulation 8-6-0-0-7 slash B. Trust me, it's a great rule, been on the books for a long time, everyone knows about it."

Janae rolled her eyes, and motioning to the smirking fox, said, "Up, you! I think Judy's had enough of your 'slash B' tail ministrations, so how about you and Sunni grab the boys and go play in the water."

Looking over at his newly created bunny goo, Nick tried to protest, "But…"

"I have Connor's number, don't make me use it."

"Alright."

Nick let his fingers dance on the tip of Judy's tail for a moment longer, and then with one last swirl of his claws through her back fur, Nick checked to make sure that his bunny was incapable of coherent thought, grabbed Sunni, and headed over to break up a sandcastle skirmish.

"First time letting Nick pet your tail?" chuckled Janae as she took the fox's spot next to her dreamy-eyed littermate.

"Mmmm Hmmm," Judy hummed.

Putting an arm around her sister and pulling her close, Janae looked over to where Nick was leading a train of kits into the water and said, "Wait till he pets your ears."

Judy moaned and then, burying her muzzle into Janae's shoulder, said, "Sweet berry pie, I am so doomed."

"Yes," replied Janae patting Judy's head, "yes, you are."

-/-/-

"Is this it?"

"Yeah, should be unlocked."

Connor's eyes went wide at the voices coming from right outside Hopps' door. Frantically looking around for a wolf-sized hiding place, and knowing there wasn't one, Pawson silently flattened himself behind the door and held his breath.

About to make a move for the window, he heard a door open.

"Damn it. Where the hell is Critterly? He said the rooms would be cleaned out and ready for product storage by today, and here we are, and that asshat hasn't done anything."

Connor remembered Judy joking about how thin the walls to her apartment were, but this was crazy. Tapping a button on his phone, Connor waited.

"Yeah. mate, the bedroom is still filled with heaps of old furniture, and the windows haven't been blacked out. What if some sticky beak with a telescope looks in through the window and sees all the Nip."

"Shut up, the Nip's going in next door. We're supposed to set this apartment up for manufacturing."

"What about the sheila that lives there?"

"Booted, now come on. We've got a van full of merchandise to unload, and I don't want to be here any longer than I have to be."

Connor stepped deeper into the corner behind the door, pulled out his gun, and waited.

"Are you sure she's gone? I don't want to bust in on some bloody jack and get shot."

Connor tensed as the door swung open, and a pair of mammals stepped in, "Would you stop being such a wuss. There's not a cop…"

"Ahem."

"…in here."

Connor nudged the door partway closed with his foot and then, using his pistol, waved the two mammals into the room.

"Paws up, boys."

Connor smiled, a wombat and a beaver, both Nip dealers. Lucky him.

"Who the hell are you? You with Critterly?"

"Nope," and then grinning with all his teeth, "just think of me as the local neighborhood watch. I heard everything you two said, and I think the ZPD is going to love hearing all about how a couple of Nip dealers are setting up shop right under their noses."

The beaver looked at the wombat and then back to Connor and then smiled as he put his paws down, "Neighborhood watch? Look buddy, this isn't your room either, so how about we all pretend we never met and go on with our lives. Besides, there's two of us and only one of you, it'll be our word against yours, so who do you think the cops will believe?"

Chuckling, Connor pressed a button on his phone, and said, "Actually, it's your word against yours," and holding his phone out… he waited.

The wombat looked at his friend and then let his arms drop too.

"Damn, how did she do that?" Connor tapped an icon and then swiped to the beginning of the recording and mumbled, "she makes it look so easy. Maybe if I'd used one of her carrot pens."

'…the Nip's going in next door. We're supposed to set this apartment up for manufacturing…'

"There we go," said Connor looking up in victory, having bested a pair of…

…missing mammals. They were gone.

Connor chuckled, "Good job, boys, no one who's in the ZPD's systems needs to know I was here." And then walking over to the window, he took pictures of two mammals jumping into a light blue catering truck, plate number ZAA-719.

Humming as he left, Connor forwarded the pictures to Clawhauser's secure phone along with a pair of HD mugshots of the perps and an audio file of their confession.

"Neighborhood watch, Hooyah!"

-/-/-

Covered with kits clinging to his fur, Nick burst out of the water, and one by one, scraped each laughing kit off and tossed them back into the water. Well, almost all the kits, Sunni had a grip on his back fur tighter than a barnacle. Trying to reach the giggling doe and dislodge her, Nick finally gave up and yelled, "Hold your breath, the red submarine is about to dive."

Diving back into the water, Nick did a barrel roll and a quick backflip, grabbed his former lamprey, and breaking the surface again, tossed Sunni up into the air. Sunni waved her arms around, shrieking in joy until Nick caught her just before she was going to get dunked, stood her on his shoulder, and let her take a bow.

"Yay Sunni."

"My turn!"

"No, me. Throw me next."

Spying a pair of targets sunning themselves on the shore, Nick let Sunni drop into his arms and then whispered something in her ear.

Sunni nodded.

Both mammals dove back into the water and, a moment later, walked out onto the beach on all fours.

Sunni gnashed her teeth and cutely growled as she and her fellow predator made their way to the unaware victims in their dry swimsuits.

"I hear growling," one prey noted to the other, still warming herself in the sun.

"Yeah, and some giggling, too," came a dreamy reply from the other prey, half asleep and lying on her stomach.

Janae lazily rolled onto her side and, looking toward the lake, saw her doom in the form of two approaching shadows.

"No! Stop!"

Judy, hearing the near panic in her littermate's voice, rolled over and.., "No… no, no, no no no no no."

Nick and Sunni bolted into the space between the cowering does, and shook their fur dry with all their might.

"Aaaaah, stop, I'm getting soaked."

"Too late," laughed Nick, "amazing how much water a fox's fur can hold, isn't it?"

"And a bunny's," added Sunni.

Water dripping from her now soaked fur, Judy just shook her head and groaned, "Yeah, thanks guys."

Nick, still on all fours, growled playfully and poked Judy's shoulder with his muzzle the same way one of his feral ancestors might when making sure their prey was down for the count. Or, in this case, drowned for the count.

Judy huffed and pushed Nick's muzzle away.

The prey still had some fight in her, so the fox, drawing on all his feral instincts, nuzzled Judy's neck and cheek with his cold nose and gave her a quick lick.

Giggling her wet forgiveness, Judy whispered, "Eww."

Janae, almost as wet as her littermate, looked back and forth between Judy and Nick and shook her head, 'Jude!'

Feeling an exasperated vibe, Judy turned to Janae and responded with an innocent 'What?' look.

Janae harrumphed at the fox still nuzzling her sister and mouthed, "Behave!"

Judy dawned a pouty look and then, sticking her tongue out at her littermate, mouthed back, "Meanie."

Chaperone duties complete for the moment, Janae grabbed Sunni's paw and said, "Come on, Dalton looks like he's having fun, let's all go splash him."

"Yay! Come on Mr. Nick!"

Nick chuckled and then, waving a paw toward the newly designated prey in the lake, said, "Go ahead without me, I need to stay and help your sister dry off."

"But…" was all she got out before being dragged by the paw into the water.

Slipping a paw under Judy's back, Nick helped his waterlogged bunny sit up, and then grabbing a dry towel, he gently dried her off.

"Hmmmm, that feels good."

Sitting with her arms across her chest to dull the cool afternoon breeze coming off the lake, Judy closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of having Nick's paws gently rub her fur dry.

"Does that mean I should go grab Sunni and have her spray you again?"

"Not who I want around right at the moment, Slick."

Seeing Judy shiver slightly, Nick wrapped the beach towel around her and then dipped his head down behind her and gave her a quick kiss on the back of the neck.

"Nick…"

"Hmmm?" came a mischievous response followed by fangs lightly nipping the same spot.

Judy shivered again, but this time it wasn't because she was chilly. "Behave," whispered the breathless doe, and then turning to her misbehaving fox, she playfully pushed his muzzle away, "someone might be watching."

Nodding toward Janae and Dalton playing with the kits in the water, Nick said, "Don't worry, Carrots." And then, wiggling his fingers as if he were a surgeon preparing for an operation, added, "a little foxy love doctor magic and the only cute couple anyone is watching is that one right over there."

Elbowing her grinning fox in the side, Judy said, "Pffft, Janae told me what you did. And yes, she's happy, but no matter how happy they are together, you're not a bunny, so you still can't call them cute." Smirking, she added, "That's a rule right up there with 8-6-0-0-7 slash C."

"B."

"Whatever, you just shouldn't."

"You know, I'm an honorary bunny now, the mayor said so."

Judy patted her fox on the cheek and said, "Being awarded the Burrow Meister is really cool, and I'm very proud of you, but there's more to it than that. Only mammals that truly understand what it's like to be a rabbit can understand what it means when a bunny calls another bunny cute and why we don't like it when other mammals call us that. I can't really explain it, you have to have lived it."

Nick nodded and made himself comfortable next to Judy. Making sure she was wrapped up in the warm towel, he finished by putting his arm around her and then motioned to Janae and Dalton tossing around an inflatable ball with the kits.

"Those two are cute together."

Hearing Judy inhale, Nick quickly put a finger to her lips and held it there until her look went from annoyed to curious.

"You might find this hard to believe, but my first day in the warren wasn't exactly all sunshine and violets."

Judy raised an eyebrow.

"Your mom was welcoming, your dad not so much. But after a little bit of a rough start, Janae's been a good friend." Looking to Judy, "I think she takes after her youngest littermate in a lot of ways. She's smart, has a good head on her shoulders, loves her family, and tries to make her part of the world a better place.

"When another mammal looks at a rabbit and says they're cute, they're usually buying into a species stereotype, same as when someone looks at a fox and calls us sly or shifty. They're not bothering to take the time to get to know the rabbit, or the fox, and whereas with a fox, they're upfront with their insults, with rabbits, it's all backhanded.

"All rabbit looks cute, so they must all be the same and looking cute is all they're good at.

"That's what I thought the first time we met.

"I was rude and demeaning and completely ignorant of what rabbits are capable of. And yes, when I called you cute that first day, I was stereotyping you the same way every other mammal did, the same way those mammals stereotyped me as a fox.

"I'm sorry I ever thought that about you. Never in my life have I been proven so wrong, so fast, by any mammal the way you proved it to me."

Smiling, Nick booped Judy's twitching nose and whispered, "You hustled me good."

Judy blushed a bit and then nudged Nick lightly with her shoulder, "Dumb fox."

"Yes, yes I am," replied Nick with a smirk which earned him another poke.

Nodding back toward Janae and Dalton, Nick continued, "I may have hustled those two, but they've been in love with each other since high school. Janae called Dalton really, really cute, not because of the bouncy, fluffy exterior that everyone else sees, but because of what's on the inside where it counts."

"Janae's a rabbit," Judy whispered.

Nick looked deep into Judy's eyes and said, "But Dalton isn't, and yet they both call each other cute.

"A mammal doesn't have to be a rabbit to know when he's found someone smart and loving, someone who cares more about everyone else than herself, someone who believed in him when no one else would, someone who's an amazing mammal that turned his life around, and someone who has never given up on him.

"Someone cute."

Judy's mouth dropped open, 'How?' Her fox, her wonderful fox, he knew. Staring into his eyes, she saw herself in his look, not the fuzzy plush toy everyone else saw, but the real her. The cop, the tryer, the girl that didn't want to settle, and knowing all that about her, he still thought she was cute.

Lifting a finger to Judy's chin, Nick gently closed her mouth and whispered, "Honorary rabbit?"

"S-sure," was the last coherent thing she remembered saying before pulling her fox into a deep hug and taking advantage of some rule 8-6-0-0-7 slash B cuddle time.